Reading Comprehension
INSTRUCTIONS: Read the following passage and answer the questions that
follow.
Nostrand Avenue cuts through the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, the heart of New York City’s West
Indian community. Lilting Jamaican and Grenadian English mingles with Haitian Creole on the street.
Groceries offer coconuts, plantains, Yuca root, mangoes, Jamaican meat patties and Trinidadian roti. The
small businesses which line Nostrand Avenue are West Indian owned and cater to the needs of the
immigrant community. Ever Ready Caribbean Shipping and Moving will ship stateside goods by the box
or barrel to families back at home. Alken Group Tours offers chartered flights to the islands for Carnival
or Christmas. And at Winston’s Caribbean Cuisine, one can nostalgically dine on lobster, cow foot soup,
or curry goat.
Brooklyn is a Caribbean capital in its own right,, one of the largest in the world. Once home to Eastern
Europeans, German and Irish immigrants, the city has become the pole of attraction for many West
Indians entering the United States. No one knows exactly how many West Indians live there, but
estimates surpass 500,000-several times more the size of the average West Indian island. Certain areas
like the Flatbush and Crown Heights sections are now 90% West Indian.
Two factors have made the experience of the West Indians in the U.S. significantly different from that of
West Indians in Britain. First, the proximity of the Caribbean to the United States has meant continuing
back and forth travel and a constant renewal of cultural and social ties to “home.” This in turn has
encouraged the persistence of insularity -- of Jamaicans feeling distinct from Antiguans who in turn set
themselves apart from Trinidadians or Guyanese, and so forth. In Britain, by contrast, the distance from
the Caribbean and the difficulty of returning has encouraged the evolution of a pan-Caribbean unity
across national lines.
Secondly, West Indians entering the U.S arrived for the most part in multi-ethnic urban areas in which the
presence of black Americans served as a buffer and a natural vehicle for assimilation. This has eased
some of the pressures associated with being a racial minority and lessened the potential for violence
directed specifically against West Indians. On the other hand, it has also diminished the need for
Caribbean people to stand together as a group.
The social life of Caribbean Brooklyn is based on island affiliation, at least for the older generation with
vivid memories of home. There are hundreds of social groups: one can attend a dance sponsored by the
Dominica Benevolent Society, for example, or a luncheon of the St. Vincent Benefit & Education Fund,
aimed at raising money for charities in the respective islands. The Jamaican Progressive League holds a
“Miss Jamaica-USA” pageant every year. While every country has at least one broad based “national
association”, there is further fragmentation according to occupation or affinity group. There is the
Jamaican Nurses Association, and even -- reflecting the sheer numbers of Jamaicans in the area - the St.
Andrew’s Anglican Secondary School Alumni Association in New York. This complexity is not
surprising in view of the fact that each country has thousands of nationals in the city, and some of the
smaller of the islands, such as Nevis or Anguilla, have more of their nationals in New York than living on
the island.
Much of what serves to unify people in the Caribbean also unifies people from different islands in New
York. There are three cricket leagues in the New York City area. Calypso flourishes in Brooklyn, as
does steelband; they are popular with New Yorkers from all over the West Indies, not just Trinidad.
Rastafarianism has spread among West Indian in the U.S. (and Britain) just as it spread from island to
island in the region. The largest Caribbean organization in Brooklyn is a Rastafarian group, The Twelve
Tribes of Israel.
But it is Carnival-the-two-day “bacchanal” of costumed parades, steelband and calypso competitionswhich draws together, however briefly, virtually the whole West Indian community of New York. This is
true even though Carnival is not indigenous to the islands. The New York Carnival has become a panCaribbean festival celebrating the vibrancy and exuberance of West Indian culture. It is held every year
on Labour Day, which has been designated “West Indian-American Day” by the New York legislature.
In terms of sheer numbers, Brooklyn Carnival exceeds even Port-of-Spain’s although it does not approach
the Trinidadian festival in quality or organization.
Questions:
1.
Why is Brooklyn referred to as a Caribbean capital?
(2 marks)
2.
Select two pieces of evidence to show that there is direct contact between residents of
Brooklyn and those in the Caribbean
(2 marks)
3.
According to the writer, why do West Indians feel less pressured in the United States?
(2 marks)
4
In your own words describe the difference in the experience of West Indians in Britain
and in the United States.
(3 marks)
5. (a) Which three cultural items help in uniting people of the Caribbean in New York? (3marks)
(b) Which is the strongest influence?
(1 mark)
6. How does Carnival in Brooklyn differ from Carnival in Port-of-Spain? Give two reasons
(2 marks)
Total
(15 marks)